Emancipation

On October 8, 1871, two major historical events happened. The emancipation proclamation was written, and the Great Fire of Chicago occurred. The Emancipation Proclamation was a huge point in the American Civil War. Though it politically did just about absolutely nothing, it became a formal declaration of the Union’s steadfast resilience to their cause in the war. The document stated that slavery would not be allowed in the United States of America anymore. This may sound very politically important, but it wasn’t; the South had already seceded from the union, so it didn’t really do anything but piss off the confederacy. Though its accomplishments were limited, it remains as the mark of the beginning of the end of slavery in the US. This, to me, is a very good thing. Its social effects created a sense of national identity that for the first time, did not involve slavery. How could anyone not appreciate that?